Taiwan researchers warn against health risk by white LED lighting

By BizLED Bureau

September 25, 2015: Taiwan-based National Tsing-Hua University, which has been doing research on white LED, is continuously fighting against the hazards of LEDs and white light. It has called upon the industry to think about the hazards that white light produced by LEDs can do before using LED-based products and devices like television, cellphone, computer, tablet and other devices.

The researchers point out that people should use lighting sources that give out candle like light, not only in residences but also as streetlights. The researchers also called upon the governments and legislators to start new rules that will compel manufacturers of light-based products to show the light spectrum given out by the product.

The researchers pointed out that studies have highlighted that white LED is linked to many health problems. It can lead to breast cancer; it may also cause ?irreversible eye damage, and suppress melatonin secretion at night.

The researchers pointed out that in some cases, 100 lx illumination can lead to retina damage in 65 minutes. In 50 lx illumination, it will cause the same damage but will take about two hours. On the other hand, by using an incandescent light bulb that produces 50 lx, one has to be exposed for 8 hours to suffer from the same damage.

The researchers have developed blue-hazard-free OLED, such as the orange OLEDs. According to them, orange OLED is safe to use in residences, particularly for reading. An orange (like candle) OLED that emits 50 lx will require about 25 hours to create the damage.

Materials scientist Prof. Jwo-huei Jou of the National Tsing-Hua University of Taiwan is working to develop advanced OLED lighting technologies in cooperation with the government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and several private organizations. He developed a small OLED panel that emitcolor temperature (CCT) like candle’s 1,914 Kelvin with color rendering index (CRI) of 93, narrowly lagging the benchmark of 100 for a candle.

The researchers aim to develop a lighting technology with dusk-to-dawn wavelengths as natural light, with extraordinarily high CRI and low Kelvin. Higher CRI means colors of objects look more natural under a light relative to those under sunlight.